Hostname: page-component-669899f699-tpknm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-04-27T05:13:49.119Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

RESOURCE ENDOWMENTS, AGENCY PROBLEMS, AND MONETARY OUTCOMES IN TWO COLONIAL AMERICAN MINTS, 1600-1700

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 September 2022

Jane E. Knodell Open the ORCID record for Jane E. Knodell [Opens in a new window]  and
Catalina M. Vizcarra Open the ORCID record for Catalina M. Vizcarra [Opens in a new window]
Jane E. Knodell
Affiliation:
University of Vermonta
Catalina M. Vizcarra
Affiliation:
University of Vermontb
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This paper examines the role that resource endowments played in the performance of two New World coinages. Massachusetts Bay and the Viceroyalty of Peru provide a useful study in contrasts, having markedly different institutions and resource endowments. Both colonies originally emphasised the provision of «good» money, that is, the provision of a uniform coin (in weight and fineness) and of a sensible mix of large and small denomination coins that would support the domestic economy. Their outcomes, however, differed. We suggest that in Potosi, the sheer volume of the resource endowment (silver) incentivised fraud and the neglect of the provision of fractionary coinage in the viceroyalty. In contrast, in Massachusetts Bay, the scarcity of the resource produced incentives better aligned with the production of «good» money. The northern colony produced a trustworthy coinage that provided small denomination coins for the domestic market.

Resumen

RESUMEN

Este artículo contribuye a la literatura sobre la gestión de políticas monetarias en la Edad Moderna. El contraste del caso del virreinato peruano con el de Massachusetts Bay es de particular utilidad para ilustrar este tema, dados sus enormes contrastes en la disponibilidad del recurso natural. Las dos colonias originalmente enfatizaron el interés público: la producción de una moneda confiable, compuesta por altas y bajas denominaciones, que satisficiera al mercado doméstico. Sin embargo, sus resultados fueron marcadamente diferentes. En Potosí, la abundancia de la plata, y la consecuente enorme escala de las operaciones de la fábrica de monedas, incentivaron el fraude y la producción de monedas de alta denominación, lo que llevó al descuido del mercado interno. En el caso de Massachusetts Bay, la escasez de la plata generó incentivos mejor alineados con la producción de una moneda confiable que respondiera de manera más efectiva a las demandas del público.

Keywords

monetary historyinstitutionscolonial legacyN22N26historia monetaria y financierainstitucionesherencia colonial
Type
Articles/Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 41 , Issue 2 , September 2023 , pp. 343 - 373
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Instituto Figuerola, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

Footnotes

a

Department of Economics, Burlington, USA. jane.knodell@uvm.edu

b

Department of Economics, Burlington, USA. catalina.vizcarra@uvm.edu

References

REFERENCES

Andrien, K. J. (1985): Crisis and Decline. The Viceroyalty of Peru in the Seventeenth Century, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Bailyn, B. (1955): The New England Merchants in the Seventeenth Century, Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Bakewell, P. (1988): Silver and Entrepreneurship in Seventeenth-Century Potosí. The Life and Times of Antonio López de Quiroga, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.Google Scholar
Barnes, V. F. (1960): The Dominion of New England: A Study in British Colonial Policy, New York: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co.Google Scholar
Barth, J. E. (2014): «‹A Peculiar Stampe of Our Owne›: The Massachusetts Mint and the Battle over Sovereignty, 1652-1691». The New England Quarterly 87 (3), pp. 490-525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casillas Rollón, A. (2012): «Medina del Campo 1497: Análisis de la reforma monetaria de los Reyes Católicos». Ab Initio: Revista Digital Para Estudiantes de Historia. 2, pp. 57-89.Google Scholar
Céspedes Del Castillo, G. (1996): Las casas de moneda en los reinos de indias. Las cecas indianas en 1536-1825 (vol. 1). Madrid: Museo Casa de la Moneda.Google Scholar
Challis, C. E. (1978): The Tudor Coinage, New York: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Chalmers, R. (1893): A History of Currency in the British Colonies, London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Eyre and Spottiswoode, Printers to the Queen's Most Excellent Majesty.Google Scholar
Clarke, H. F. (1936): «John Hull—Colonial Merchant, 1624-1683», Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society.Google Scholar
Craig, S. J. (1953): The Mint; A History of the London Mint from A.D. 287 to 1948, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Crosby, S. S. (1978): The Early Coins of America; and the Laws Governing their Issue, Boston: Estes and Lauriat.Google Scholar
Dargent Chamot, E. (2011): «La ceca de Potosí y la circulación de monedas de plata falsificadas en el virreinato peruano (siglos XVI-XVII).» Diálogo Andino (38), pp. 75-84.Google Scholar
Davis, A. M. (1901): Currency and Banking in the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay, vol. I, New York: American Economic Association by Macmillan Company.Google Scholar
Giraldez, A. (2008): «China and Counterfeiting in 1650 Potosí», in Hirzel, Thomas and Kim, Nanny (eds). Metals, Monies, and Markets in Early Modern Societies: East Asian and Global Perspectives, Berlin: Lit Verlag, pp. 15-43.Google Scholar
Glassman, D., and Redish, A. (1988): «Currency Depreciation in Early Modern England and France». Explorations in Economic History 25, pp. 75-97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jordan, L. (2002): John Hull, the Mint, and the Economics of Massachusetts Coinage, Hanover: University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Judd, S. (1976): The History of Hadley, Massachusetts, Somersworth: New Hampshire Publishing Company.Google Scholar
Kane, P. E. (1998): Colonial Massachusetts Silversmiths and Jewelers, New Haven: Yale University Art Gallery, distributed by University Press of New England.Google Scholar
Knodell, J., and Vizcarra, C. (2021): «Resource Endowments and the Problem of Small Change: Insights from two American Mints, 1600-1700.» Financial History Review 28 (3), pp. 344-363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, K. (2017): «From Corrupt to Criminal: Reflections on the Great Potosi Mint Fraud of 1649», in Rosenmuller, Christoph (ed.), Corruption in the Iberian Empires: Greed, Custom, and Colonial Networks, Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, pp. 33-62.Google Scholar
Lane, K. (2019): Potosí. The Silver City that Changed the World, California: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lazo García, C. (1992): Economía colonial y régimen monetario Perú: Siglos XVI-XIX. Tomos 1-3. Lima, Perú: Banco Central de Reserva.Google Scholar
Marichal, C. (2006): «The Spanish-American Silver Peso: Export Commodity and Global Money of the Ancient Regime, 1550-1800», in Frank, Zephyr, Marichal, Carlos and Topik, Steven (eds), From Silver to Cocaine. Latin American Commodity Chains and the Building of the World Economy, 1500-2000, Durham and London: Duke University Press, pp. 25-52.Google Scholar
Mccusker, J. J. (1978): Money and Exchange in Europe and America, 1600-1755, Chapel Hill: The University of North Carolina Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menzel, S. (2004): Cobs, Pieces of Eight and Treasure Coins. The Early Spanish-American Mints and their Coinages, 1536-1773. New York: The American Numismatic Society.Google Scholar
Moreyra Paz Soldán, M. (1980): La moneda colonial en el Perú. Capítulos de su historia. Lima Perú: Banco Central de Reserva del Perú.Google Scholar
Mossman, P. L. (1993). Money of the American Colonies and Confederation. New York: American Numismatic Society. Digital edition, 31 August 2016.Google Scholar
Motomura, A. (1994): «The Best and Worst of Currencies: Seigniorage and Currency Policy in Spain, 1597-1650». The Journal of Economic History 54 (1), pp. 104-127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Munóz Serrulla, M. T. (2015): La moneda castellana en los reinos de indias durante la Edad Moderna. Madrid: Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia.Google Scholar
Munro, J. H. (2010): «The Coinages and Monetary Policies of Henry VIII (r. 1509-1547): Contrasts between Defensive and Aggressive Debasements». University of Toronto Working Paper 417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newell, M. E. (1994): «Merchants and Miners: Economy and Culture in 17th Century Massachusetts and Potosi». Revista de Indias 54 (201), pp. 299-311.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Peterson, M. (2019): The City-State of Boston; The Rise and Fall of an Atlantic Power, 1630-1865. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Quiroz, F. (2016): «La moneda en el mercado colonial peruano», in Contreras, Carlos (ed.) Historia de la Moneda en el Perú. Lima, Perú: Banco Central de Reserva del Perú and Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, pp. 199-226.Google Scholar
Redish, A. (2000): Bimetallism: An Economic and Historical Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Solomon, R. E. (1976): «Foreign Specie Coins in the American Colonies», in Newman, Eric P., and Doty, Richard G. (eds), Studies on Money in Early America. Associate ed. New York: The American Numismatic Society, pp. 25-42.Google Scholar
Suárez, M. (2016): «Metales preciosos, moneda y comercio. La participacion del Perú en el mundo ultramarino, siglos XVI-XVIII», in Contreras, Carlos (ed.) Historia de la moneda en el Perú. Lima, Perú: Banco Central de Reserva del Perú and Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, pp. 155-198.Google Scholar
Sussman, N. (2003): «Inflation Tax», in Mokyr, Joel (ed.), Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic History, Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Sylla, R. (1982): «Monetary Innovation in America». The Journal of Economic History 42 (1), pp. 21-30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tepaske, J., and Brown, K. W. (ed.) (2010): A New World of Gold and Silver, Leiden: Brill.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valeri, M. (2008): «Providence in the Life of John Hull: Puritanism and Commerce in Massachusetts Bay, 1650-1680», Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society.Google Scholar
Wall, R. E. (1990): The Membership of the Massachusetts Bay General Court, 1630-1686, New York: Garland Publishing.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

Vizcarra and Knodell supplementary material

Vizcarra and Knodell supplementary material

Download Vizcarra and Knodell supplementary material(File)
File 43.2 KB